The Immediate past Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu yesterday reported to the House for business but rejected the seat allocated to him and rather made contributions from the Majority side of the chamber a rare occurrence.
Mr Iddrisu rejected the seat on the grounds that it belonged to a senior colleague, Collins Dauda, who was older than him in age and experience in parliament.
He said he was willing to take up a new seat but not the one which was assigned to Mr Dauda because of the respect he had for him.
“Mr Speaker, forgive me if I have to assume your chair, there was an issue of whether I should take over from Collins Dauda and I told them that Collins is a senior by age and senior even in this house. So I will not fit into his chair as I am well-trained at home so any other chair is acceptable to me. I am still the elected member of parliament for Tamale South,” he said.
Reappearance
Mr Iddrisu and the former Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Muntaka Mubarak reappeared in the House after both of them exited the chamber earlier than usual on Tuesday when Parliament reconvened.
It was unclear what had necessitated the “early exit” on Tuesday, but their reappearance yesterday gave the minority front a unified outlook.
Mr Iddrisu wore an all-white outfit with a coloured cap, while Muntaka wore a lemon-green kaftan with a cap.
Wrong seat
Mr Iddrisu, unwilling to take up his newly allocated seat in the House, briefly sat on the back bench of the Minority side before moving to the vacant seat of the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu.
He sought permission from the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu to make a contribution to a report on the African Union Convention on cross-border cooperation, known as the Niamey Convention.
The former Minority Leader discussed the importance of the report and the need for the House to adopt it to help resolve cross-border conflicts.
He stated that he would not occupy a chair that was not his, but he was ready to occupy any other seat given to him.
Prior to the reconvening of the House, the new leadership of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had made changes to the leadership of the Minority front bench, replacing Mr Iddrisu as Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi as Deputy Minority Leader, and Muntaka Mubarak as Chief Whip.
